


A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

by Mostcrazylady



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 01:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3632367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mostcrazylady/pseuds/Mostcrazylady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Sen-Too alternate scene.<br/>What if Alex had shot Blair instead of drowning him in the fountain?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

Blair sat in his office contemplating the events of the last few days since he had met and attempted to help Alex. The morning sun was just beginning to lighten the sky when his thoughts were interrupted by her appearance. She pointed the gun she was holding at him and he raised his hands in surrender.

“Alex, I thought you’d be long gone by now.”

“I never leave anywhere until I have all the loose ends tied up and you’re one loose end I can’t afford to leave unattended.” Alex smiled smugly. “You were so easy to fool. You actually believed me when I told you I got the sentinel senses on a camping trip. The truth is I was in prison and they put me in solitary confinement. Just think, if I’d never met you, I’d still think I was going crazy instead of knowing what I really am.” 

Blair frowned. “And just look at what you’ve done with the lessons I gave you. What a waste of my time.”

“You taught me how to use these senses,” Alex acknowledged, “so I guess I owe you for that. But you’re still a loose end and as much as I hate to do this, I can’t leave you alive.”

She moved closer as she cocked the gun. Blair closed his eyes and held his breath as he waited for the inevitable.  
________________________

Jim’s truck followed by other police vehicles pulled up in front of Hargrove Hall. Simon, Megan, Brown, and Rafe hurried after Jim as he ran into the building and down the hallway to Blair’s office. They came to a sudden stop inside the doorway and stared in dismay at what they saw. 

Blair lay on the floor with a pool of blood slowly spreading from under his body. Jim quickly shook off his shock at the sight and with a cry of denial moved to turn Blair over. As soon as he was face-up, the damage to his chest from a gunshot wound was visible. 

“Call an E.M.T. now!” Simon ordered. “We need an ambulance!” He knelt beside them and pressed his fingers against Blair’s neck. “I’m not feeling a pulse. Do you hear a heartbeat? Jim?”

“I don’t hear anything,” Jim whispered and with determination began shaking Blair’s lifeless body. “This can't be happening. Come on, Chief. Breathe, damn it!”   
.   
Simon bowed his head and put his hand on Jim’s arm. “Jim. Jim, he's gone. Let him go. He's gone.”

“No! No! He's alive!” Jim insisted. He shook Simon's hand off and ignored Megan's quiet sob.

Simon knew Jim wasn't listening but he tried to reason with him anyway. "He's gone! I'm sorry."

"What do you mean sorry?" Jim snapped angrily. "This isn't over." He placed his hands over the wound and pressed down as if trying to push the blood back into Blair's body. "Damn it Sandburg. Come on."

"Jim! Let him go, let him go." Simon begged in despair. He knew Jim's frantic behavior was a reaction to his grief but he began to fear for his friend’s sanity. He glanced over his shoulder at the others who stood watching, silently asking for their help.

"No! I won't let him go. He can't be dead. Come on, Sandburg!"

Simon again tried to get Jim to face reality. "Jim, he's gone. There's no pulse and too much blood loss. He was gone before we got here. I'm sorry."

"No! He's alive! You hear me Sandburg? Don't you go! You can't leave!" Jim blinked tears out of his eyes as he sent a plea to the one person he could think of that might help him. "Incacha, help me! Please. I can't lose him."

Brown and Rafe exchanged a worried look as they tried to comfort Megan. It was disconcerting to watch a man they had always considered strong fall to pieces before their eyes. They grew more concerned when they noticed Jim's frantic movements had stopped and he seemed to be looking and listening to something across the room that they couldn't see or hear.

Jim stared as Incacha appeared before him and gave him a sad smile. "Sentinel and guide should be one. Alone, each is vulnerable. Together, they cannot be defeated. Do you understand, Enqueri?”

"I understand now. I thought I could keep him safe by sending him away, but I was wrong."

"This is a harsh way to learn that lesson, but it is a lesson you needed to learn. Now you must join and be one."

"How do I do that? How can I join and be one with him?"

"Use the power of your animal spirit."

Jim's eyes widened at the vision that appeared before him. He saw a wolf slowly trotting away from him, though it appeared reluctant to leave and kept glancing back over its shoulder as if looking for someone to stop its progress. Jim knew the wolf was Blair and he called out, "Don't leave me, Chief. I'm sorry. Please, come back."

The yowl of a large cat was heard and the wolf stopped and turned around. A black panther appeared running swiftly toward the wolf who gave a yip of joy and ran toward the panther. 

Jim looked down at his partner and touched the pulse point on Blair's neck, then held Blair's face in both his hands. He watched as the wolf and the panther ran toward each other and leaping into the air collided and merged. There was a flash of blue light and Jim heard a gasp from the other members of the major crimes team.

Simon had thought that Jim was zoning on Blair's body and was just reaching to shake him out of it when a blue light began to softly glow around Jim's hands where they rested on Blair's face. He leaned back quickly and knew by the indrawn breaths behind him that the rest of his team saw it too. They watched in awe as the light slowly spread over Blair's body until he and Jim were both glowing. The glow faded and they stared in disbelief as the blood slowly disappeared.

"Jim?" Simon whispered.

"He's breathing and his heart's beating," Jim sighed in relief. "I get a second chance."

"That's impossible. No one comes back from the dead," Simon began to argue.

Blair groaned and Jim grinned in triumph as Blair opened his eyes and looked at the stunned faces staring at him. "What happened? Last thing I remember, Alex was pointing a gun at me and.... Oh my God. She shot me." He put his hand on his chest where the wound had been and looked puzzled when he discovered no blood. "At least, I think she shot me."

Before anything further could be said, a voice in the hallway asked, “Did someone call an ambulance?”

“In here,” Rafe said as he stepped aside to let the two paramedics enter the room.

”What do we have?” one asked as he headed for Blair who was still lying on the floor rubbing his chest.

"I think he fell. He was unconscious when we got here." Jim gave his colleagues a look that clearly pleaded with them to go along with his explanation. He was backed up by Simon's nod which gave them an unspoken order to keep quiet about Blair’s real injury.

Blair glanced around the room and gave a self-conscious laugh. "Um, yeah. I tripped and my chest hit the corner of my desk when I went down. It hurt so bad that I must have passed out from the pain."

The paramedic in charge nodded and said, "We’ll take it from here, detectives. Give us some room so we can check him out."

Jim and Simon moved back and watched silently as the medics worked. They were confused all over again when Blair's shirt was opened and all they saw on his chest was a dark bruise where the wound should have been.

"See?" Jim murmured. "It's gonna be all right."

The medics finished their exam and pronounced Blair only bruised by his fall. They packed up their gear and headed back to their ambulance.

As soon as they were out of sight, Brown blurted, "You were dead. You were laying there in a puddle of blood and you were dead."

"Then Ellison touched you and you both started glowing with this blue light," Megan added.

"I don't understand it," Rafe shook his head. "How did you do that?"

Megan gasped, "You're not just psychic, Ellison. You're a psychic healer too."

Jim squeezed his eyes shut then looked at Simon as if to say now what do I do. Simon cleared his throat and gave them all his sternest glare. "You will tell no one about this. We've just witnessed a miracle and if anyone finds out what happened in this room, Jim will be mobbed by reporters and who knows who else. He'll never be able to do his job."

Megan, Rafe, and Brown were clearly undecided about what to do until they noticed Blair's beseeching look. "Please don't tell anyone about Jim. Please."

They nodded in agreement and gave their word that they would be silent about Jim's ability.

"All right people, we've got work to do." Simon began to make shooing motions toward the door. "We need to track down Alex Barnes. If Barnes is still in Cascade, we need to find her fast. And if she's already left town we need to find out where she's headed." He looked back at Jim and Blair. "We'll give you two a little air. I'll see you back at the station and we'll come up with a game plan." He hurried out the door after his other detectives.

Jim and Blair quietly contemplated each other for a few moments.

"Thank you, Jim, for coming after me. I really thought I'd never see you again."

Jim shrugged. "I couldn't let you die. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm all right," Blair reassured him. "When Alex pulled that trigger, I really thought it was all over. But then I was dreaming that I was a wolf and I'm not sure where I was headed but I didn't really want to go there. Then I heard you ask me not to leave you and when I turned around, I saw a black panther running toward me and for some reason that made me so happy, I ran back to meet it."

"And the panther and the wolf leapt into the air and collided with each other and merged into one in a flash of light," Jim quietly finished for him.

"You had the same vision?" Blair marveled. "How did you know what to do?"

“Incacha appeared to me and told me that sentinel and guide are meant to be one and that I needed to learn that lesson. He said we must join and become one because as long as we’re together, we can never be defeated.” 

“Sounds like advice we should both remember.” 

“Then he told me to use the power of my spirit animal to bring you back,” Jim continued. “I was wrong to push you away because instead of keeping you safe I put you in danger. Blair, I’m so terribly sorry for the way I’ve been acting these past few weeks.”

“I think we both share the blame for what’s happened. I shouldn’t have let you push me away. So let’s just forgive each other and move on from there.”

“Agreed,” Jim smiled and pulled Blair into a hug.

After a moment, Blair pulled back and asked, “So what happens now?” 

“We find Barnes and put an end to her crime spree,” Jim vowed grimly. “And we do it together.”


End file.
